"Overpowered" powers for underpowered characters

[dugfromthearth]

breaking out Kevin's question from another thread - what can lower powered characters do to be important on a team of high powered characters - without using Attack Weak Point.

I have found from my limited experience that certain things are "overpowered" mechanically but are basically support roles so they are not very popular

healing - way overpowered. Same cost as damage (although you don't get to add your Brawn) but no resistance and no to hit. It is not glamorous and it does not take down the bad guys, but a few points of healing make a team much tougher.

boost others - a x2 dmg multiplier attack is almost worthless. But a + x2 multiplier on an ally is amazing. If you are willing to not make the attacks yourself, but instead make your allies' attacks stronger you can cheaply add a lot of effect.

daze - remarkably overpowered when it works. Daze stops a foe from acting and eliminates their defense against an attack. Lots of tough foes have low mind (heroes shouldn't, but it is common with villains). Daze is pretty cheap - and even if all it does is let one ally get a free hit on a foe it is amazing. Have an ally with a variable attack power. Daze their foe and they can put everything into damage.

weaken - weaken is bad because it has to be high to have any effect, but a low stat character can still have an effective weaken even if they cannot have a powerful attack. Weaken 4 with range 5 is 5 pts. Giving your foe a -4 to all brawn rolls including damage and soak is amazing. If they have Soak x6 that is effectively an extra 24 damage all attacks against them do.

there are probably several others - the key is that doing damage is impressive and expensive. Aiding allies and crippling foe is fairly cheap.

[BASHMAN]

All good points. You don't have to build a "Combat Character" to be effective and useful to a team.

One of the party members in my group is a sorcerer called "Mandar the Magnificent" who is essentially a comic-book & D&D geek. His "true power" is reality alteration ala Frankling Richards, but he (the character) isn't aware of it. All he knows how to do with it is "Summon" comic book characters and cast D&D spells. He literally carries a D&D player's handbook as an item he needs to cast spells (and it is also a Grimoire). His spells are not combat-focused though. He has "Bull's Strength" for instance that he uses to Boost allies; and "Flight [Usable on Others]" and "Cure Serious Wounds" (Healing x2 Usable on Others).

He is working on more, but focuses on boosting spells. His next XP expenditure will be for Haste (Super Speed, usable on others).